March News #1

 We are hoping to transition to spring-like weather as March comes upon us. The weekend brought warmer weather and it was so nice to enjoy some sunshine. On Monday, I will be sharing a link to sign up for upcoming Parent-Teacher Conferences. Conferences will take place on Monday, March 13th, and Thursday, March 16th. I look forward to meeting with each of you to discuss the progress your child is making in first grade. Watch for an email on Monday with the link to sign-up. 

Math: With conferences coming up soon, last week we did assessments for each skill tested for the 2nd trimester. I will share these assessments at your upcoming conference time. We also continued to work on adding and subtracting a two-digit number to a single-digit number, as well as adding and subtracting a 2-digit number to a 2-digit number. We worked on using the strategies of drawing tens and ones to help us solve, as well as using the 120 chart. We will complete the lessons on this skill this week, and then move on to comparing numbers using the symbols/words for greater than/less than. 

Reading: Last week, we completed lesson 20 on compound words, cause and effect, and prepositional phrases. We are now ready to move on to lesson 21 this week. Our reading goals will be to read and spell words with "ar", our comprehension skill will be story structure, which means we will identify characters, the setting, and the problem in stories we read. Our grammar skill will be pronouns. We continue to work on being fluent readers and I am encouraging reading multiple times throughout the day. At home, you can also encourage your child to read daily. The best way to increase fluency is to read, read, and read!!! The following high-frequency words will be practiced this week: few, window, shall, night, noise, world, loudly, and story.

Writing: We have been using our spelling words to complete sentences in our journal. This week, we will do writing samples to put in our conference folders on opinion writing and how-to’s. 

Science: This week, we will read and learn  about craters on the moon. This will be the last lesson in our unit on "Spinning Sky". This week/next week, we will review and do an assessment over the concepts we covered within this unit. The assessment will be done together. Last week, we also had a visit from the naturalist. She shared information on animal traits and we had fun doing a group activity as well. The kids enjoyed remnants of some animal traits that she brought to share. 

Music Program: On Monday, your child will be bringing home a note with information regarding the upcoming music program in April. The first grade program will take place on Tuesday, April 4th @ 6:00 PM in the Fairview Gym.

Star Student: Lexi and Kyla were most recently featured. Lexi likes to drink Dr. Pepper and eat broccoli cheddar soup. Her favorite movie is “Matilda”, she takes dance lessons, and wants to be a teacher when she grows up. Kyla likes to drink sunkist and eat spaghetti. Kyla’s favorite show is “Sonic”, she likes to wear her hooded fleece sweatshirt, and she also wants to be a teacher when she grows up.